A family-owned Norfolk-based resort firm has come top in the first survey of UK holiday parks by consumer watchdog Which?.
Potters Resorts – which has two locations, in Norfolk and Essex – beat the likes of Hoseasons, Pontins, Center Parcs and Butlins in the research.
Pontins finished bottom while Center Parcs faced criticism over its prices.
The survey ranked 19 venues and give stars out of five for multiple categories including entertainment, accommodation and food and drink.
The survey of more than 2,200 stays saw Potters Resorts earn a customer score of 88%, closely followed by another family-owned firm, Waterside Holiday Group, with 87%. Both scored five out of five stars in every category.
With a 72% customer score, Center Parcs was one percentage point ahead of Butlin’s.
It scored just two stars for value for money as guests reported paying £71 per night on average with extra activities on top, finding it was almost the same price as first-place Potters – an all-inclusive resort, costing £72 per night.
One guest said it was “second mortgage” expensive.
However, visitors rated accommodation at Center Parcs as five out of five stars.
Hoseasons (pictured), which sells via the trade, had a customer score of 74%, and five-star ratings for its accommodation, cleanliness and service. Its rate was £45 per night in the research.
Verdant Leisure, which can be booked via Hoseasons, scored 76%, and five stars for accommodation, cleanliness, service and value for money. Its nightly rate is £50.
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Budget brand Pontins – owned by Britannia, the hotel chain rated as the UK’s worst nine years in a row in Which? surveys – was bottom of the table after scoring 59% overall.
One guest described it as a “dull, dingy campsite”, while others complained of cobwebs, musty smells, sticky furniture and stained mattresses.
Pontins scored two stars out of five for accommodation but some respondents said they had an “amazing” time and their trip brought back childhood memories.
Butlin’s scored three or four stars in every category to reach a 71% customer score.
The company has sites at Bognor, Minehead and Skegness and has spent millions refurbishing accommodation and pool complexes in recent years.
Guy Hobbs, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Our survey saw smaller, family-run resorts triumph over the biggest names, so there is no need to go for the most expensive option to have a great experience.”
Which? said Center Parcs declined to comment, while Pontins did not respond to a request for comment.